undesigned

English

Etymology

un- +‎ designed

Adjective

undesigned (not comparable)

  1. Not designed, not intended.
    • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders
      The living in this manner with him, and his with me, was certainly the most undesigned thing in the world; he often protested to me, that when he became first acquainted with me, and even to the very night when we first broke in upon our rules, he never had the least design of lying with me; that he always had a sincere affection for me, but not the least real inclination to do what he had done.
    • 1792, William Bligh, A Voyage to the South Sea, Chapter 6, 31 October, 1788,
      “Yes,” he said, “I will send him anything I have;” and then began to enumerate the different articles in his power, among which he mentioned the breadfruit. This was the exact point to which I wished to bring the conversation and, seizing an opportunity which had every appearance of being undesigned and accidental, I told him the breadfruit trees were what King George would like; upon which he promised me a great many should be put on board, and seemed much delighted to find it so easily in his power to send anything that would be well received by King George.
    • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 5,
      She knows nothing herself, and looks upon Emma as knowing every thing. She is a flatterer in all her ways; and so much the worse, because undesigned. Her ignorance is hourly flattery.
  2. Not designed, not drawn or planned before being made.
    • 1985, Martha Duffy, “Just the Way You Look Tonight Couture,” Time, 30 December, 1985,
      Paul Poiret, the first celebrity couturier, left nothing undesigned, not only what a woman wore but everything she touched.
    • 2012, Tim Hayward, “Memories served cold,” Financial Times, 24 February, 2012,
      No, the new caring world of sustainable, recyclable, organic food gets the sustainable, recyclable, organic packaging it deserves and we must select from ranks of hessian bags marked with stout, sans-serif faces from a simpler era – packages that have been designed to within an inch of their lives to say “undesigned”.

Derived terms
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